Full Circle
by Sopherdoodle
Summary: A 25 yearold Craig Manning returns to find a 16 yearold Angela leading a destructive lifestyle. Will he finally understand his past? Will he be able to save her?


Craig Manning walked towards his home with his guitar slung across his back. Well, not his current home, but his old house where he'd stay with Joey Jeremiah while he was in high school. Even though Craig was famous for leading the band 'Stealing Saturday' he still enjoyed crashing at home once in awhile where he knew the paparazzi wouldn't get him. In fact, he asked his limo driver to drop him off a block away. Even though there was a risk of him being seen, he still enjoyed walking around late at night, taking in his surroundings. It calmed him a bit.

He rubbed his hand across his face feeling the roughness of his 3-day stubble. He knew that Joey was out of town for the night, and he expected to come into a nice, quiet house with Angie already asleep. Craig glanced down at his watch and noticed that it was 2:30 AM. Yeah, Angie should definitely be asleep by now.

He turned the corner and headed up the steps towards the place he used to call home. It was small and cozy, but it was enough for the three of them to live on. He reached deep into the pocket of his leather jacket and fumbeled around to find his home key. He smiled proud of himself when he pulled out the gold key with the word "HOME" etched on the front.

He opened the door, sighing looking into the darkness of the couch. He gently set down his guitar case and kicked off his chucks making a loud sound. Just then, he saw two teens sit up and look at him shocked. They had clearly been getting hot and heavy and both looked very annoyed at him for interrupting. The boy stood up trying to look as innocent as possible. Craig chuckled to himself for a moment before realizing that the girl was his sister, Angie.

"Craig Manning!" The boy asked in shock, "From Stealing Saturday?" The boy's eyes widened realizing that not only did he just get caught with his girlfriend, he got caught with his girlfriend by the lead singer of his favorite band.

"Yeah. It's me." Craig muttered deciding whether to pound the boy to a pulp or not. Even though he didn't see Angie too often he cared about her, and this boy looked like the type that'd be breaking hearts. He had long, dark straight hair that fell past his ears, similar to the style that Craig himself rocked during his junior year. He was wearing a vintage Val Halen T-shirt with ripped up jeans and chucks similar to the ones Craig kicked off a moment ago. "It's getting late. You should go home."

"Yes, Mr. Manning!" The boy replied wide eyed. Without saying another word, he ran out of the room eyes fixated on Craig. It was as if he couldn't believe that Craig was actually there in the room. Craig laughed softly watching the boy leave. Then, his eyes turned to Angie.

Angie was staring back at Craig with an expression mixed with anger, guilt and embarrassment. Craig headed over towards her and without saying a word, he sat next to her on the couch. He glanced over at what Angela was wearing. She was wearing a jean skirt so short that Craig couldn't even call it a skirt and a low-cut blue tank top. She had gigantic hoop earrings in her ears and Craig thought her makeup looked like it belonged on a clown and not a sixteen year old girl.

"Angie. It's two o'clock in the morning! Why are you macking on some random boy!" Craig asked, concerned.

"You're not my father!" Angela exclaimed angrily crossing her arms on her chest. "Besides. He's not a random boy."

"Okay, fine, he's your boyfriend then." Craig added, "But I mean still. I was 16 not too long ago, and I know you guys can't keep your hands off of each other for a second," Craig noticed Angie wince a little as he said that. Craig was sure Joey gave Angie "the talk" already, and Craig knew from experience that it wasn't a good time at all. Craig figured Angie was expecting another one of those. "But at 2 o'clock in the morning, Ang, dressed like that! honestly."

"No, he's not my boyfriend." Angie said softly staring down at the ground, "And you probably have done the same thing."

"That doesn't matter now." Craig replied staring at her. "And plus, I was a boy. Things are different for boys." Craig looked straight ahead thinking for a moment before adding, "Wait.. he's not your boyfriend! Then why.."

"Because," Angie interrupted. "Because I love him. And even though he has a girlfriend, I feel like.. I feel like he loves me too. I mean, he told me he'd break up with her for me.."

"He has a girlfriend!" Craig muttered staring at the floor and wincing. What she was saying sounded all too familiar to him.

"I can keep a secret." He heard her voice ringing silently in his head. The feeling was all too familar. Even though it has been over 10 years, he can still feel her body rubbing against his. He can feel his head telling him to stop, but his body craving the high that she provided him. She was like a drug to him, and even though he knew it was bad for him, he couldn't stop seeing her. He craved her like alcoholics crave booze.

He couldn't let some bum off of the street do this to his little sister. Craig knew he caused Manny a lot of pain, and he didn't want to see Angie go through the same thing. He couldn't let Angie go through the same thing.

"Craig, look." Angela started noticing he was silent for awhile, "I know you might not approve, but I really REALLY love him. I mean, we were at this party tonight, and of course she wasn't around, but.." She stalled for a moment waiting for a reaction from him, "But he told me it was me he wanted. And I believe him."

Craig shook his head, still staring at the ground. He couldn't believe his sister was falling for this. He wanted to cream that jerk for making his sister believe he loved her. He was a teenage boy once, and he knows they only want one thing, and it's not love. He also realized that he was a jerk too. It sadly took him 10 years to see that what he did was wrong.

"Angie, you can't believe this kid! I mean, he's just going to lure you in and have sex with you, just so he could run back to his girlfriend. Then, he'll get you pregnant, pretend like he's in love with you, but he'll only just be with you for the baby. Then, you'll break up, and won't be able to trust any other guys ever again." Craig spat angrily.

"Did you take your.." Angela started to ask, concerned.

"That wasn't an outburst." Craig whispered silently. "But you HAVE to listen to me. That guy..he's no good."

"How do you know, Craig?" Angie yelled. "You know, not every guy is just like you."

"But he's playing you Ang, he's playing you AND his girlfriend." Craig said calmly.

"Maybe he is, maybe he isn't." Angela started, "The point is, I love him, and I'm pretty sure he loves me, and that's all that matters to me right now." Angie got up off of the couch yawning, "I'm going to bed now, can we talk about this later, Craig?"

Craig nodded, "Goodnight, Angie."

"Night, Craig." Craig watched as Angie walked behind him, and listened to her clunk up the stairs.

Craig crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the ground, thinking. He never realized what Manny and Ashley had to go through until he saw Angie in a similar sitaution. He couldn't bear to see Angie have to go through what they did.

He really wished he could take it all back. Even though he was at a young age of only 15, he should have known better. He saw the slight pain in Angie's eyes when she mentioned his girlfriend mirror the hurt he saw in Manny's when she dropped the bracelet at his feet years ago.

He sighed burying his head in his hands. This was too much for a guy to think about, even if he did lead Stealing Saturday. He stood up and instinctively went to his guitar case, opening it and strumming on his guitar.

_I don't know if you'll forgive me  
For being so blind to how you felt  
Don't ask me why I couldn't see it  
It might take me years to figure out_

Craig grinned softly. Even though he wrote that song when it was 15, it still had meaning to him. It did take him years to figure it out, 10 to be exact. He realized that his sister might get hurt, and she might not from this guy, but he put it in the back of his head. He realized that it's all part of growing up.


End file.
